


Finding A New Home

by elliseleven (orphan_account)



Category: NSA Intern (Video Game), Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss, NSA Intern Alternate Ending, Typical Night Vale Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24164134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/elliseleven
Summary: Lincoln wakes up in a strange new town with no memory of his previous life as an intern for the NSA. The town of Night Vale was used to strange occurrences, but Lincoln's appearance struck one Cecil Palmer as newsworthy. Neither of them could predict that they would get a chance to meet.
Relationships: Cecil Palmer & Lincoln Julison, Cecil Palmer & Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	Finding A New Home

Cecil sat down at his desk and stretched. Everything was just as he left it yesterday. His microphone perfectly placed, his notebooks and pens neatly arranged, and the cat Khoshekh still floating four feet above the men’s bathroom floor. Everything was perfect, except a station intern. The last intern was tragically killed just last week. The citizens of Night Vale believed the job to be cursed, and yet, there were still plucky young adults willing to take the spot. Cecil really didn’t know why they worked for him, but he was grateful for it all the same. He didn’t like paperwork all that much. And all that running around, ugh! It was too much for him at his age.

He looked at his wall clock in front of him, with a certain skepticism. After Carlos (ah, perfect Carlos…) had told him that all clocks in Night Vale were fake, he couldn’t quite bring himself to trust it. Nevertheless, he had to be on time for his broadcast. The citizens of Night Vale were counting on him.

So he began his show, just as normal. However, Night Vale was anything but.

Lincoln Julison sat up in a daze, the chaos of his past completely forgotten. 

“Ugh, what happened?”

He looked around for any sort of clue as to where he could’ve ended up. He couldn’t remember how he got there. Heck, he couldn’t even remember anything before this point. His name even escaped him.

His eyes scanned his surroundings. He was lying on the side of a highway, it seemed. Traffic seemed to be flowing smoothly. As long as he was in no danger of getting hit, it didn’t matter to him. It seemed he was on the outskirts of a town. There was a sign next to him that read, 'Welcome to Night Vale'.

“Night Vale?” This didn’t bring Lincoln any closer to figuring out where he was or how he had got there. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember much of anything at all.

He decided that nothing would get done if he just sat around all day. Despite how creepy the town looked from his position, Lincoln got up and began to walk. He saw a few faces along the way as houses began to appear, but no one talked to him. They just stared and screeched when they saw him. Lincoln covered his ears in fear of them bursting his eardrums.

“So I can’t talk to anyone now? That’s just great.” He got a howl in response.

As he walked into the denser part of the town, Lincoln made sure not to interact with anyone. He didn’t want to get screamed at again. But what was he going to do if he couldn’t talk to anyone? He began to panic.

He decided to stop for a while. _Deep breaths, okay? Just because you’re in a town you don’t recognize with people you can’t talk to, and you don’t remember any of your past doesn’t mean the world’s ending. Relax._

The words he was telling himself in his head sounded like complete bullshit, but what else could he do? Eventually, he relaxed enough to take in more of his surroundings. Minus the… colorful townsfolk, it looked like a pretty ordinary town. Houses, a dog park, a library, a high school, city hall. It looked like a completely normal town to him. Funny how you couldn’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe he should look around a bit.

Cecil was in the middle of speaking when a text came through on his phone. He quickly scanned its contents. “Listeners, I have just received a text from our new intern, Katherine. She only joined me in the station moments ago, and she is already so enthusiastic! I am truly lucky to have such a reliable intern as her. Katherine has told me that a strange boy has appeared in Night Vale and has been walking through our town. She has included a photo of him. The clothes he wears are nothing to write home about, but there is something… off. 

“No one knows who he is or what he is here for. He has spoken to nobody. How rude! Surely, he at least knows how to practice common decency! If I were an outsider to a town as lovely as this, I would at least introduce myself to its citizens. I sincerely hope I won’t be meeting him anytime soon. He sounds like a real jerk.” He paused and exhaled audibly. Once composed, Cecil continued. “I’m sorry for that, listeners. Sometimes, I let my anger get the better of me. But I won’t let that ruin our show!”

Lincoln first tried for the dog park as it was the closest to him. He soon found out that no one… was allowed to enter? _Not even dogs?_ Lincoln frowned. He had been looking forward to seeing one. The only thing he could see were figures in black robes. Hoods covered their faces, but it was as if they were staring at him. Lincoln quickly began to feel dizzy, so he tore his eyes away from them and put as much distance as possible between them. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he stayed any longer.

As he walked up the street, past houses and Ralphs, Intern Katherine was hiding in the shadows, texting regular updates to Cecil. 

He was grateful to receive these updates, of course, but he could be talking about much more important things such as Carlos and… Cecil cleared his throat. “I am sorry about that, listeners. I lost my train of thought…” Another cough and a sip of water. “Anyway, I have received another update from Intern Katherine. Isn’t she great? Our mystery man is currently making his way past Ralphs. He is getting closer to the radio station, dear listeners. I hope that he does not decide to enter. I really don’t like this outsider. He is so rude! It’s a good thing Katherine is here to keep an eye on him.”

As Lincoln carried on walking, he began to feel lightheaded. When was the last time he ate or drank something? Ralphs looked so inviting. It was just a shame he had no money. He had to sit down for a while for fear of passing out.

Katherine took that as her opportunity to take another photo. Sure, she could just talk to him, but he might be dangerous. They knew nothing about him. She didn’t want to die her first day on the job. 

Seconds after that thought crossed her mind, there was a whisper in her ear. She whirled around to nothing. She was about to shrug it off and turn back to her subject when a searing pain spread through her body. Something had got her for sure. Before she even had time to think, Katherine gave an ear splitting scream and vanished into thin air.

She was gone before anyone could turn to the noise. Shivers ran down Lincoln’s spine as he saw a horrifying creature standing where the scream had come from. Fearing the worst, Lincoln took off in a sprint and ducked into the closest public building: Night Vale Community Radio Station _._ He promptly ignored the sign that read ‘enter at your own risk’ and went straight in. There was no one in the reception. The desk was completely empty. It was as if no one even worked here. But that wasn’t important right now. He found the stairwell and went up them two at a time. It was only one flight of stairs, but he wasn’t wasting any time.

He rushed down the corridor, past Khoshekh the cat without even a second glance, and right up to the studio door. The red light was on, showing that the radio was on air, but he couldn’t wait out here. Not with that thing chasing him. Lincoln rapped on the door and waited desperately for an answer.

Cecil stopped in his tracks. No one had ever knocked before. He straightened his tie and cleared his throat. “It appears I have a visitor. If you’ll forgive me, I will cut this announcement short. I will leave you with the weather.”

Cecil approached the door cautiously. He wished now that he had installed a peephole to look through in case of any uninvited guests. But this had never happened before, so he had never had a need for one. 

So he settled for calling out. “Who is it?”

“Please! This creature is out in the streets. I managed to get away, but it got someone! A woman, I think. Please let me in. I have no idea what’s happening. I don’t want to die!”

Lincoln stumbled in to the room as the door was pulled open hard and closed with a slam behind him. Cecil had only just received word about this creature appearing in Night Vale, and he wasn’t letting it into his station. That’s for sure.

Once Cecil had bolted the door (not that he thought that would do much good), he could get a good look at his visitor. And, of course, it was Lincoln: the man Cecil had been trying to figure out all day.

His eyes flashed in anger “It’s you!”

Lincoln blinked a few times. Why did this man know who he was? The term ‘man’ was used lightly as Lincoln quickly noticed Cecil’s third eye which was as angry as the other two. He decided not to ask about it.

“I’m sorry, have we met?” 

Cecil looked as if he could explode at any minute. “You’re the one I’ve been getting complaints about! I’ve been following you all day! You’ve wasted so much of my time!”

Lincoln sputtered. He had absolutely no clue what was happening. He was only glad that this man could speak English. “I don’t… I don’t understand, sir. I was... being followed?”

“Yes! My best intern was watching you. We had to make sure you weren’t dangerous, see?”

Lincoln frowned. Could that have been the woman that screamed just a few minutes ago? “I don’t know if it was her, but someone was taken by that creature.”

Cecil pinched the bridge of his nose. “I worried something had happened to her. That’s very sad. She will be missed.”

Lincoln nodded. He was sad, of course, to hear of her passing, but he couldn’t help anxiously awaiting the creature. He couldn’t hear anything and, it seemed, neither could Cecil.

Music filled the silence between the two men until Cecil began speaking again. It seemed he wasn’t frightened at all, something that Lincoln couldn’t relate to. “So, what’s your name? The only thing I know about you is that you’ve been running around Night Vale with no regard for anyone else’s well-being.”

Lincoln sighed. He knew nothing about himself, no matter how hard he tried. It really was disheartening. “I don’t know.” His voice was barely above a whisper. It was hard to admit that he had lost his memory.

“What was that?” Cecil was on edge. On one hand, he was listening out for the creature and on the other, he really didn’t want to miss the end of the weather. His tone had been more aggressive than he had intended.

“I don’t remember my name, okay?!” Tears were starting to well in his eyes. He wished he’d never come up here.

Cecil winced at his shrill response, but this interested him. “Really? Can you remember anything else?”

Lincoln shook his head and sniffed.

Cecil felt guilty that he had struck a nerve. He didn’t quite know what to say. 

The music finally faded away and Cecil knew he had to get back to his job. He looked to Lincoln awkwardly. “Hey, how about you stay here for a bit? I need to finish my broadcast. And… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’ve just had a stressful day.”

“Yeah. Because of me, right?”

“No!” Cecil lied. “I just… Look, I’ll tell you after, all right? I really need to get back.”

“Okay.”

Lincoln found a chair in the corner of the room and sat. He knew Cecil had been lying just then. Maybe he felt guilty about being so angry from before. Either way, Lincoln was happy he apologized. Cecil was possibly the only person he could rely on here.

Listening to the rest of Cecil’s broadcast helped calm Lincoln down, despite the threat of being killed lingering in the air. It was easy to let his words wash over his head, no matter how dark they ended up being. 

Fortunately, Cecil received word from City Council that the creature had vanished as quickly as Katherine had. No one knew where it had come from or where it had gone. All that mattered was that it would no longer terrorize this town. Cecil also had to send his condolences to the family and friends of Intern Katherine. He said this in his usual announcer voice, but he couldn’t help but feel sad at her passing. He had grown to care for her since she had become an intern, as with all her predecessors.

Lincoln sighed as Cecil finished his speech about Katherine. If it hadn’t been for him, she wouldn’t have died. He felt horrible.

As Cecil bade his goodnight to the town of Night Vale, Lincoln had calmed down considerably. He was relieved to know he was safe now, and that Cecil and him were now on good terms. But he couldn’t stop thinking that it was all his fault that Katherine had died.

Cecil turned around to grin at Lincoln but, seeing his forlorn expression, he frowned. “What’s up, kid?”

It took some courage for Lincoln to speak his mind. “It’s my fault she died, right? If I’d never shown up here, she would still be alive now.”

Cecil walked over to Lincoln and sat next to him. “Hey. It’s not your fault. If she didn’t die today, she would’ve died some other day. People… and non-people die in Night Vale every day. It’s normal, honestly.”

Lincoln looked up to him. “Really? That’s, uh, concerning.”

Cecil nodded gravely. “Yes. But you didn’t bring that creature here. I’m sure you had nothing to do with this. I can tell you wouldn’t kill someone on purpose.”

Lincoln felt a little better about that. “Thanks.”

Seeing Lincoln smile made Cecil feel better. “Good. So!” Lincoln flinched at that. He was still on edge, it seemed. Cecil didn’t seem to notice. “How about you be my new intern from now on?”

Lincoln didn’t know how he felt about this proposal, given what had happened to Intern Katherine. “I dunno,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t want to die, y’know? I just got here.”

Cecil waved away this remark. “Yes. We all die in the end though, especially in Night Vale.. So why not have some fun before then? I’ll have you know that I’m a pleasure to work with.”

Lincoln laughed awkwardly. “I’ll bet.” He pondered on this for a moment. If he said no, where would he go? Cecil was really the only person he had. He had made up his mind. “I’ll do it.”

Cecil grinned. “Great! I’ll go get you a badge, and we can get started. Welcome to the team, intern! Oh… I still don’t know your name.”

Lincoln shrugged. “I could just be called ‘Intern’.”

Cecil shook his head before the sentence was even finished. “No, no. That won’t do at all. You need a name. Everyone in Night Vale has one.” 

He paused and held his chin, his eyes fixed on the other’s face. Lincoln tried very hard not to blush. 

Suddenly, Cecil clapped loudly. Lincoln almost jumped out of his skin. “How about Lincoln? You seem like a Lincoln to me.”

“Uh, sure.” Lincoln hadn’t really had much time to think up of a name for himself. It was a good name too, so why not?

“Good. I’ll get your badge then.” Cecil turned to leave but stopped when his new intern spoke.

“Uh, excuse me?” Lincoln was embarrassed to say that he still hadn’t asked of his boss’s name.

“Oh, I never introduced myself, did I? How embarrassing. Just call me Cecil. What’s up, kid?”

“Um, could I please have some water? I can’t remember when I last drank anything. Food as well, actually.”

“Wow. You’ve only just got here and you’re asking for all this?” Lincoln looked down to his feet, and Cecil chuckled. “Only kidding. Of course, I can get you some. There’s some leftover pizza in the fridge. It’s probably edible.”

Lincoln laughed. He’d probably eat anything Cecil gave him at this point. “Sure. I’d love some.”


End file.
